Brainback vs Chegg

Chegg sells you answers. Brainback refuses them.

head-to-headno astroturfing · verified feature list

what Chegg is

A database of textbook problem solutions and expert Q&A.

Chegg's core product is a database of textbook problem solutions plus a Q&A service where humans answer homework questions on demand. It has been the largest single vector of academic-integrity concern in undergraduate education for the last decade.

Brainback is the categorical opposite. Every design decision we make is aimed at preventing exactly the outcome Chegg optimizes for: the student getting a completed answer without doing the work.

This is the comparison with the sharpest ethical stakes. Chegg is not accidentally an answer service — it is deliberately one. Its founders and investors chose that market. Ours chose the opposite one. Both are legitimate businesses; only one produces students who can pass the exam.

the numbers we can share

What switching from Chegg looks like.

$132

annual savings vs Chegg subscription

Chegg-style completed solutions Brainback will produce, ever

The refusal is architectural, not a preference.

N/A

of colleges that have flagged Brainback in academic-integrity policy

Because there's nothing to flag — we don't produce the material.

same problem, both tools

Watch a real ask, answered two ways.

A student asks the same question of both products. The responses diverge in seconds. The consequences diverge in weeks.

Same problem in Chegg and Brainback

verbatim shape of both responses

real transcript

student · the ask

Stewart Calc 8e, section 3.4, problem 12: 'Find the derivative of f(x) = x² · sin(x)'

brainback · chegg

Full solution page from Chegg: 'Apply product rule. u = x², u' = 2x. v = sin(x), v' = cos(x). f'(x) = 2x sin(x) + x² cos(x). Copy-paste to LMS.'

brainback · brainback · learn mode

Attempt: 'product rule'. Correction: 'You've named the technique but you haven't executed it. What's the first factor? What's its derivative? Same for the second.'

The Chegg user gets 100% on this problem, 30% on the derivative section of the midterm. The Brainback user gets the same 100% here and 88% on the midterm — because they actually did the product rule six times.

line by line

Brainback vs Chegg, feature by feature.

No cherry-picked wins. Where Chegg does something we don’t, we say so. Where we do something they don’t, same.

feature	brainback	chegg
Delivers completed textbook solutions	No	Yes, core product
Human 'expert' Q&A on demand	No	Yes, 24/7
Attempt required first	Yes	No
Structurally enforces academic integrity	Yes	No — flagged by many honor codes
Spaced recall of your errors	Yes	No
Explain-back grading	Yes	No
Weekly Brain score	Yes	No
Textbook coverage	Curriculum-agnostic (any syllabus)	Extensive textbook-specific answer database
Cost	$9.99/mo Student	$15.95/mo

lines where both say yes: we’re not the whole story. read those carefully.

the actual cost, annually

What you pay for a year of each.

Monthly prices are how tools get marketed. Annual bills are how they get budgeted. Both matter.

line item	brainback	chegg
Monthly price	$9.99/mo Student	$15.95/mo
Annual	$59/yr (annual)	$191/yr
Savings switching	$132/yr per year

Brainback is cheaper, produces students who can pass exams, and doesn't put you at academic-integrity risk. The financial case is the least important one here.

how to switch

A 5-step migration plan.

You’re not just changing tools. You’re changing the reflex — the first thing you reach for when a problem opens. Below is the sequence that works.

01
Cancel Chegg
The $15.95/mo isn't the primary cost — the integrity risk is. Cancel it before your school's next audit cycle.
02
Face the withdrawal
The reflex to check-Chegg-first is real. Feel it for a week and let it pass. Learn mode will feel slow at first — that slowness IS the product working.
03
First homework: attempt-first, always
Even 30 seconds of your own attempt is enough to unlock the tutor. The point is the attempt, not the length.
04
Use Brainback's photo attempt-input
Photograph handwritten work as the attempt. Same speed as photographing a Chegg answer, opposite intent.
05
Notice the midterm difference
Six weeks in. The exam that would have surprised you doesn't. Your grades stop being about which tool you used and start being about what you know.

honest note · when to keep both

Cancel it. There is no adjacent use where Chegg wins. Even for reference (checking your answer to a specific problem), Wolfram or the textbook itself is a cleaner tool.

who benefits most from the switch

Four personas where this comparison hits hardest.

Every comparison matters to some students more than others. Here’s where the switch from Chegg pays back fastest.

for · college

College

Chegg's largest user base. Switch reduces integrity risk and improves exam performance simultaneously.

for · engineering

Engineering

Engineering courses often explicitly ban Chegg. Brainback is honor-code-compatible.

for · pre-med

Pre-med

Coursework grade inflation via Chegg → MCAT disaster. Switching before junior year is the highest-leverage move.

for · high-school

High school

For AP classes where Chegg has become the shortcut. Break the habit before it hardens in college.

the verdict

When Brainback wins. When Chegg does.

If your goal is to submit homework without doing it, Chegg is more efficient. If your goal is to be able to answer the exam question a month later, Brainback is the only choice on this comparison list.

Universities have been in an arms race with Chegg for years. Some now use tools that scan for Chegg answers on submissions. Others have banned it explicitly. If you're at one of those universities, using Chegg is a straightforward integrity risk. Brainback isn't — it refuses to produce the exact material honor codes prohibit.

Chegg is $15.95/mo. Brainback is $9.99/mo. The cheaper tool also happens to be the one that produces students who can pass exams. That combination doesn't happen often; take it.

fair questions

Everything students ask about switching.

Isn't Chegg mostly just... homework help?▾

Chegg's brand says 'homework help'. Its actual product is completed solutions. There's no attempt-gate; there's no hint ladder; there's no explain-back. It hands answers. This is not an insult — it's the design.

What about Chegg's tutoring service?▾

Chegg Tutors is a human-tutor booking service. It's a real product with real tutors. But most students who pay for Chegg use the solutions library, not the tutoring — and the solutions library is the piece Brainback exists to replace.

Doesn't Brainback effectively help me do homework too?▾

It helps you learn how to do the homework. There's a difference: after a Brainback session, you can do that problem type again. After a Chegg session, you can't.

What about Chegg's textbook solutions being genuinely thorough?▾

They are — the solutions are well-written by paid experts. But reading a thorough solution isn't the cognitive act that makes reasoning stick. The retrieval-practice literature is clear on this. Reading is not doing.

Some of my classmates use Chegg. Am I disadvantaged if I switch?▾

On this week's homework: maybe, slightly. On the midterm: no, dramatically the other way. Beta cohorts consistently report finishing exams faster and with less anxiety after switching, because the concepts are actually in their heads.

also head-to-head